I have begun to think that all decent diet foods are invented out of sheer jealousy. I know that sounds a bit weird, but let me explain.

Beau and the kids were having mashed potatoes with ranch dressing tonight as part of their supper, and I started feeling left out. I wanted some ranch dressing, doggone it, but could not overlook the fact that unfortunately, it is NOT very diet friendly; nor is it low in sodium. In fact, it’s generally chock full of fat, fat, fat, sodium, and more sodium. I knew if I indulged, it would be a huge speed-bump in the road to Thinlandia. There had to be another way. So I thought to myself, (say it with me,) “Self, you need to make some low-sodium, low-calorie, hopefully not low-taste Ranch!”

I went onto www.allrecipes.com, which is my goto site for recipes, and found a good base spice recipe with some nice reviews. I then proceeded to see how I could Thinlandiate it, if you will, by reducing the fat, calories, and sodium. I eventually came up with something that was quite pleasant, and at only 40 calories and 3 fat grams for two tablespoons, as compared to the 148 calories and 15.6 grams of fat in Kraft’s Ranch Dressing, I figured I was doing pretty well. I was pretty successful in reducing the sodium as well; there were only 60 mg per two tablespoons of my new dressing, compared to 287 mg for Kraft’s.

The key to success in making a low sodium food taste decent is to have a reasonable substitute, and I’m not talking Morton’s Lite! There is a fabulous new salt substitute out named Also Salt that has proved immeasurably beneficial in helping me stay on my low-sodium diet, and if you have any thoughts of eating as little sodium as you can, I strongly urge you to get yourself a few bottles, preferably in all three flavors (regular, garlic, and butter).

I used your recipie to make Cafe Rio cilantro dressing. Make it in a blendr and add 1/2 bunch cilantro, 2 tomatillos and a chunck of a roasted hot pepper to taste. Try that on some greens with a chopped green onion. To die for

Woah! I truly love the layout of this web site. It’s simple, yet effective. Good balance between user friendliness and visual look and feel. What is the name of the template you’re using? Is it free? Thank you.